Category: Activism

Lies, damn lies, and the ‘Heartland Institute’

I work at a research lab in Bar Harbor, Maine as a System Administrator. My name and title have been in my e-mail signature, not to mention various websites for over 10 years now so the various snail junk mail places can harvest it. Most of the time this just means I get little postcards about the latest backup library or some fancy brochure from HP telling me all about their latest servers (which we don’t use) or other useless junk from Microsoft, etc.

Last week a package arrived from the ‘the Heartland Institute‘ addressed to “Matthew Baya, Administrator” and then my workplaces address. Ok.. I’ll admit just the name ‘Heartland Institute’ raised my skeptic alarms (been listening too Skepticality too much perhaps 🙂 ) but I opened it and pulled out a 40 page booklet called “Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate’ that is the ‘Summary for policymakers, Nongovernmental International Panel On Climate Change’. There was also a 10 minute DVD called ‘Unstoppable Solar Cycles – The Real Story Of Greenland’ included with it. The cover letter that came with it had the Heartland Institute logo and short summary of them below it;

“A nonprofit organization devoted to discovering, developing, and promoting free-market solutions to social and economic problems

Free-market solutions? To social problems? er.. like what?

Also, I note there is no scientific mission in their charter, so why are they the ones sending this 40 page booklet by the ‘Science and Environmental Policy Project’ to me? and why me?

My heckles were raised enough at this point and as my high school english teacher Mr. Joseph Porpora would say (paraphrasing, it’s been many years)”<SNIF><SNIF>This paper smells like bullshit to me, go rewrite it so it doesn’t stink so much'” so really I was about to toss the whole thing but curiousity got the better of me so I just had to look a little deeper to see if my 30 second assessment was correct. Continue reading Lies, damn lies, and the ‘Heartland Institute’

WERU Full Circle Fair – July 26 & 27, 2008 – Blue Hill, Maine

Below is the press release for WERU’s Full Circle Fair that is coming up this weekend. I’m on the steering committee for this event and I’ve put dozens of volunteer hours towards organizing it. This is all volunteer organized and it’s a great event. The problem is since it’s a fund raiser we don’t have a 5 digit PR budget so we don’t have huge obnoxious glossy posters all over the place. So while he do have posters, brochures and even 12 page Fair Guides (which I designed alone this year)  we rely on word of mouth as one of our best promotions. So if you’re in Maine, near Maine, know someone in Maine or heck, if you’re looking for somewhere to visit this weekend.. come on up. Trust me, this fair is a blast. We’ve got a great musical lineup and it’s a great community event, even if you don’t live in this community 🙂

Press Release: 07/16/08

WERU-FM Community Radio (89.9 Blue Hill, 102.9 Bangor) throws a big party every year. That party is called the Full Circle Fair and it happens the last full weekend in July. This year, the 2008 Full Circle Fair is July 26 & 27 at the Blue Hill Fairgrounds in Blue Hill, Maine. In addition to celebrating Community Radio, the Fair will also be helping the station to celebrate 20 years of operation.

The Full Circle Fair is a two-day, family event that includes music, speakers and children’s events. There are hundreds of vendors including artists, crafters, a wide variety of foods and non-profit exhibitors.

There are two stages of music and speakers. Some of the confirmed acts include Buddy Holly’s Original Crickets, blues guitarist Debbie Davies, folk singer, Ellis Paul, Slaid Cleaves, Prince Edward Island’s Vishten, indie rockers Maggi, Pierce & EJ, and folk/protest singers emma’s revolution.

WERU is pleased to have Teri Blanton as our keynote speaker. Teri is survivor of a Superfund toxic waste site near her home in Harlan County, Kentucky and her courageous stand against the abuses of coal companies has won her notoriety within her state. Continue reading WERU Full Circle Fair – July 26 & 27, 2008 – Blue Hill, Maine